NET Guard Dying Quietly
from the so-much-for-that-plan dept
Following September 11, when everyone was talking about the potential of a "cyberterrorism" attack there was a lot of talk about setting up some sort of "cyber national guard" of volunteer geeks who could step up and help protect our virtual borders when necessary. A law was even passed: the Science and Technology Emergency Mobilization Act to put such a group into place. And then... nothing. Nothing has been done to build such a group and it looks like nothing ever will. It turns out the law doesn't require such a group be created - it just says they can create it, if they want. Some say the Department of Homeland Security just has too much on their plate right now to deal with something like this, but the real reason might be that most people don't think the threat of cyberterrorism is really that big of a deal. In the end, it sounds like the legislation was passed more because it sounded good at the time, rather than for any practical purpose.
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